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Design and development

Whoa Nelly has a turquoise coat, a bright lime green mane and tail, orange eyes, and a cutie mark of her own face inside a white star surrounded by five smaller orange stars. Her design is unique in that she has a far pudgier body than most ponies, with average-sized hooves. She slightly resembles Lightning Dust, being similar in coat and iris colors and partly-stars cutie mark.

Whoa Nelly is an original character of series character designer Charmaine Verhagen.[1][2] She is the sixth original character to appear in the show, preceded by Holly Dash, Wild Fire, Midnight Strike, Peachy Pitt, and Stellar Eclipse. Among the show's animation staff, Whoa Nelly is referred to as the "Love Yourself pony", and her inclusion in the series was at the whims of fellow character designers Kora Kosicka and Rebecca Dart. Though they expected Hasbro to disapprove of her inclusion, Hasbro approved it.[2]

In late April 2015, Jim Miller tweeted about Whoa Nelly during the premiere of Tanks for the Memories.[3] When later asked about Whoa Nelly on Twitter, Miller replied "I'll never tell! ;)"[4] and "Looks like a pony to me."[5]

Depiction in the series

Season five

Whoa Nelly first appears in a locker photograph at the Cloudsdale weather factory in Tanks for the Memories. In Canterlot Boutique, she has a brief speaking role at the end of the episode, entering Canterlot Carousel during its going-out-of-business sale and asking about the Princess Dress.